Competing Interests Statement RMS, TAC and LGTM are inventors on a provisional patent application (62/569,053) filed by MSK, relating to the use of TMB in cancer immunotherapy.MDH, NAR and TAC are inventors on a PCT patent application (PCT/US2015/062208) filed by MSK, relating to the use of TMB in lung cancer immunotherapy.MSK and the inventors may receive a share of commercialization revenue from license agreements relating to these patent applications. CHL received research funding from Eisai, BMS, Exelixis, Pfizer, Calithera and consulting fees from Exelixis and Eisai. ANS has received research support from Bristol Myers Squibb, Immunocore, Astra-Zeneca, Xcovery and serves on the advisory board for Bristol Myers Squibb, Immunocore, Castle Biosciences; he also receives royalties from UpToDate. MDH receives research funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb; is paid consultant to Merck

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has affected millions of people worldwide, igniting an unprecedented effort from the scientific community to understand the biological underpinning of COVID19 pathophysiology. In this Review, we summarize the current state of knowledge of innate and adaptive immune responses elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection and the immunological pathways that likely contribute to disease severity and death. We also discuss the rationale and clinical outcome of current therapeutic strategies as well as prospective clinical trials to prevent or treat SARS-CoV-2 infection.

SummaryAs the premier model organism in biomedical research, the laboratory mouse shares the majority of protein-coding genes with humans, yet the two mammals differ in significant ways. To gain greater insights into both shared and species-specific transcriptional and cellular regulatory programs in the mouse, the Mouse ENCODE Consortium has mapped transcription, DNase I hypersensitivity, transcription factor binding, chromatin modifications, and replication domains throughout the mouse genome in diverse cell and tissue types. By comparing with the human genome, we not only confirm substantial conservation in the newly annotated potential functional sequences, but also find a large degree of divergence of other sequences involved in transcriptional regulation, chromatin state and higher order chromatin organization. Our results illuminate the wide range of evolutionary forces acting on genes and their regulatory regions, and provide a general resource for research into mammalian biology and mechanisms of human diseases.

CD8+ T cell–dependent killing of cancer cells requires efficient presentation of tumor antigens by human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I) molecules. However, the extent to which patient-specific HLA-I genotype influences response to anti–programmed cell death protein 1 or anti–cytotoxic T lymphocyte–associated protein 4 is currently unknown. We determined the HLA-I genotype of 1535 advanced cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Maximal heterozygosity at HLA-I loci (“A,” “B,” and “C”) improved overall survival after ICB compared with patients who were homozygous for at least one HLA locus. In two independent melanoma cohorts, patients with the HLA-B44 supertype had extended survival, whereas the HLA-B62 supertype (including HLA-B*15:01) or somatic loss of heterozygosity at HLA-I was associated with poor outcome. Molecular dynamics simulations of HLA-B*15:01 revealed different elements that may impair CD8+ T cell recognition of neoantigens. Our results have important implications for predicting response to ICB and for the design of neoantigen-based therapeutic vaccines.

Distinct classes of protective immunity are guided by activation of STAT transcription factor (TF) family members in response to environmental cues. CD4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) suppress excessive immune responses, and their deficiency results in a lethal, multi-organ autoimmune syndrome characterized by T helper 1 (Th1) and T helper 2 (Th2) CD4+ T cell-dominated lesions. Here we show that pathogenic Th17 responses in mice are also restrained by Tregs. This suppression was lost upon Treg-specific ablation of Stat3, a TF critical for Th17 differentiation, and resulted in the development of a fatal intestinal inflammation. These findings suggest that Tregs adapt to their environment by engaging distinct effector response-specific suppression modalities upon activation of STAT proteins that direct the corresponding class of the immune response.